After beating the Thunder on Sunday and then losing at home Monday to the Spurs in a game that they trailed by as many as 35 points, the Timberwolves’ young star Anthony Edwards took the blame – and received some criticism from Karl-Anthony Towns.
“This one’s on me, man,” Edwards said after the 115-106 loss. “I came out with no energy at all. If I come out with energy, that changes the whole team. It’s all about me right now.”
Edwards scored 9 points and shot 3-of-15 overall, including 1-of-8 from 3. Towns was asked by The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski how he can help Edwards perform better in back-to-backs, and Towns took the opportunity to criticize Edwards’ diet.
“Maybe I could do a better job of teaching him how to take care of his body, diet and everything. That’ll be on me. I know you all think it’s funny up here when he talks about Popeye’s and all that s***. That doesn’t make me happy to hear. We’re high-level athletes,” Towns said. “But also, that falls on me too, you know. The old cliche, falls on you. Everyone wants to take the blame, but it’s on all of us.”
Karl Anthony Towns on Anthony Edwards performance tonight #Timberwolves pic.twitter.com/tdSC084Yu9
— Wolves After Dark (@WolvesAfterDark) October 25, 2022
You can trace the Popeye’s jokes back to last season. In January, Edwards was asked by Dane Moore about having to rid Popeye’s from his diet in order to add muscle and subtract body fat.
“That’s hard. That’s the hardest thing to do,” Edwards told Moore.
Anthony Edwards, who has clearly grown this year, says he'd eventually like to put on five more pounds. But said that will mostly be about diet — more muscle, less body fat.
I asked if that means no more Popeyes. Edwards said: "That's hard. That's the hardest thing to do."
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) January 22, 2022
Still, Edwards said he entered training camp at 239 pounds and 11% body fat, though he’s since trimmed himself to 230 pounds and 7.4% body fat.
Anthony Edwards says he's back down to 230 pounds and a 7.4% body.
When he came into camp is when Edwards was 239 (what he's now listed at). He said his body fat was 11% entering camp — and he said that was because he took 4 days off of working out right before camp started.
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) October 22, 2022
At this point, Towns being critical of Edwards is just a quote. We’ll find out soon enough if it turns into something more. The Timberwolves are back on the court for a rematch with the Spurs at Target Center on Wednesday night.
Related: Report: Jaylen Nowell expected to explore unrestricted free agency
